April Snows

Yes, snow in April! When the rain should be falling to herald spring, turn the grasses green, and the flowers to burst forth from the earth, we've had two days of snow.
I'm happy there's not been much accumulation, since the snow melts quickly on the roads and gardens, but it's too cold to work outside and plant my spring bulbs. I guess I'll just have to stay indoors and stitch. Woe is me.....  ;-D   lol!
Last week was a busy one with three days out and then company, so not as much stitching happened.
My new thread order arrived!

Aren't the colours yummy?!
I can't wait to use them!

One road trip found me at The Creative Festival in Toronto, where I bought these threads

and these beautiful beads!

 A second road trip took me to my favourite second-hand shop. I found some lovely treasures for my wrapping cloth fabric stash!


hankies, doilies and a small table cloth.....or square runner

hankies with stitching, with crocheted edges, with lace inserts, and even a tatted edging

cutwork hankies, too.

How many hankies?


17!

this pretty lace is on each of the 4 corners

so delicate

prettily edged with tatting

filet crocheted edging on the table cloth

Wouldn't this make a gorgeous gift bag? There is a large stain, but I'm sure it could easily be covered with some embroidery.........and that way I could keep this cloth intact.



  I did make some progress on the wrapping cloth piece.

The blouse pocket flap has been adorned with buttonhole lace. The tab on the flap side has multiple rows of lace.

a different angle

a row of cast-on stitch chains

the beginnings of a row of clustered bullion loops

and my progress so far

some road-trip tatting might find its way onto the wrapping cloth











That's my week. I hope yours has brought you many happy moments and lots of creativity.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Tatting for Texas

Some StitchMap members lost everything in the recent fires in Texas. StitchMap has organized stash replacement and requested Christmas tree decorations, so I've been tatting:

from Rosemarie Peel, this heart is a nice and easy tat. I've added beads for a little glitz and sparkle, and used DMC perle, #12. Each tat is ~ 2" square.

Oops, looks like I added an extra chain, too! The top chain below the hanger was an extra.

Here's how the heart should look.


I added a splash of red, and a crystal drop, as well as the beads for sparkle.

I was doodling, and this decoration was the result.




I do like the crystal dangle.

This is a wonky doodle, so I'll keep it for my tree, and tat a few more.

Hope you have some time to tat or stitch today.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

A Pillow Swap

I was in a little pillow swap on StitchMap. Here's what I made for my swap partner Sarah.
The theme was summer, and I wanted to use fabrics in the same colors Sarah has in her home.


On side one, a dragonfly,  lace sunflowers with a beaded outline, button centers and tatting sewn onto a 'beach' fabric. This side has a beige backing.

side two was created with layers of lilac fabric, two pieces of flowery fabric on top, and covered with a pale blue organza embellished with stitched flowers. I added ribbon, laces, buttons, beads, hand embroidery and a dyed lace heart. It feels light and feminine.

There's a blue 'MOP' button that came from a sweater my mother knit me when I was 10.

This pillow side is backed with a patterned beige fabric.

Sarah's name is stitched onto the pillow in the upper right. I wanted to join the the blue beaded seam treatment to the upper lace row, and the threads seem to softly echo the two shades of blue.

I made a felt pocket for holding a packet of tissues, or a little sachet in the pillow








                                                                       

 ribbon straps for hanging


the two sides of the pillow are hand-stitched together.






I sure hope Sarah likes her pillow! I tucked  a few little goodies into her pillow package.
Sarah's pillow was caught in the backlog of mail due to the postal strike, so I hope it finds its way to her soon.

My swap partner Amber sent me this pillow:

A cute waterlily on a lily pad!
 Isn't the crocheting lovely and lacy?





Thank you, Amber!







I hope your day has smiles in it.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Tuesday Tats July 5

Is it me, or is it the pattern?

I was tatting some edgings from the booklet " Embellishing with Edgings" by Handy Hands.
I began with Edging #13 in a purple varigated thread: Lizbeth #129
I t was curving. Hmm, not good for what's supposed to be a straight edging.




It wanted to be a square, instead.

      






So, I finished it that way, but it looked really dinky.

 




I added a little border and it now measures 2 1/4 ", just perfect for a little motif.

I tried another edging, #14.
Hmmm, it's curving, too.
I think it must be me. :-0
I suppose I'll just have to loosen up a little!

I finished off this little tat with some beads. Now to sew the backing and send it off in the mail!

Another tat for the mail.
Is that a bumble bee?














Hope you are having a sunny day. Here, it's already 27C, and it's not even noon. I'm off after a quick lunch to play canasta.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz
        

Flower Power and a Fundraiser for Sendai

I was inspired by Jillayne's tutorial for ruched flowers, and these were the result:

 Not having large enough pieces of material to cut on the bias, I thought I would see what happened with just a piece cut along the grain.......

Though not as pretty or delicate as Jillayne's, I was fairly happy with the results

I used a beaded square for the center



Mine is a little wonky

  a smaller flower with a button center




a little better result

 my technique needs a little finessing
 
















Here I made a layered flower, singeing the edges of each layer of organza.
I tatted a fancy picot flower center and popped in some tawny-coloured beads












Flower Trio

Another, smaller ruched flower added. Thanks Jillayne!















Many of you may have heard of a CQ International project to help the people of Japan with a fundraiser.  A small donation and a quilt square will go to raise funds. It's called Hearts and Hands for Sendai.
The information has been posted on several blogs, but if you are interested in learning more, you can read all about it here.
I'll be participating in this project. Won't you join me?

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Hearts and Laces

I wanted to use a piece of my tea-stained lace to make a little gift for a special someone.

rusty bits cotton, cheesecloth, and some old flannelette

gathering embellishments
hmmm, which shall I use?

 flannelette base, rusty bits cotton, FME with gold thread, a brown fiber topper with FME'd gold thread

covered with rusty cheesecloth, and then some tea-stained lace

rusty bits cotton bottom

 add a tawny-colored shell heart and a tea-stained lace heart









an acorn button to attach once the wrist size is known







a cheesecloth flower with a two-thread tatted center and a bead cluster sits atop the hearts








 tawny gold and brown seed beads dance along the lace

and Voila!  a bracelet for a special lady with a chain and button closure

Hmmm, maybe I should run some brown ribbon through the gold chain.

What do you think?

Well, I decided against the chain: it didn't seem to match the shabby-vintage feel of the fabrics.

I removed it and used a piece of chocolate ribbon. Then, I added a second acorn button for a smoother closure. I'll attach the backing once the bracelet has been sized and the buttons secured.

I sure hope the recipient likes this bracelet!

I hope you've had a creative day.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz